Eternally Satisfying

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

I remember driving along Interstate Highway 99 through central California and seeing a billboard next to an aqueduct that read: “Where water flow life grows”. Of course, in the agricultural regional of central California, the emphasis of the sign was on crops, but water is accentual for all plant and animal life. The amount of water in the human body ranges from 50-75%, averaging around 57-60%. On average, a person can survive without water for about 3 days. Liquid water is one of the necessary elements for life on earth. But, what is “living water”?

In John 4:1-6, on the way to Galilee from Judea, Jesus stopped at the town of Sychar and sat by a well there at the sixth hour (noon). Our Lord was weary and thirsty. Jesus was not by Himself too long before a Samaritan woman came out to draw water. Commentaries state that, in those days, women ordinarily traveled in groups to get water for their households, and they would early in the morning or later in the day in order to avoid the intense heat of the noonday sun. That the Samaritan woman came to the well without the company of any other women and she came at a time when she was likely to be the only one at the well indicates that something of her status as an outcast in society. The Samaritan woman was rejected by her community for her sexual immorality. Jesus did not press her on her reluctance to serve Him water; rather, He took the opportunity to teach her something about Himself.

The point is that (just like you and I) what the woman needed was spiritual rebirth. Living water is nothing less than spirit regeneration unto eternal life through the Holy Spirit. He was offering the water of eternal life, the abundant, never-ending sustenance from God Himself that ensures we will live forever. She understood that Jesus was claiming to give her better water than she had ever drawn, hence her unbelief. She could not understand the spiritual nature of the water Jesus offered unless she first saw her desperate need of soul renewal. Sin enslaves; Jesus redeems and saves.

John 7:37-39 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

It is the ministry of the Spirit, flowing out of a heart redeemed by God, that blesses believers and, through them, brings life and light to the world. Living water is eternally satisfying.